Stranded
by SanGate
Summary: John is not happy with Teyla going to the mainland with a male biologist. The trip doesn't turn out as hoped. John/Teyla ship.


I wrote this story for Gateworlder _scifan _as part of a sort of Secret Santa celebration for the Joe Flanigan/John Sheppard thunk thread who reached 200,000 posts. She wanted a John/Teyla shippy fic, so she got one from me :) It is my first fanfic based on ship, aside from a Conversion tag I wrote, and I warn for a death in the fic (not a known character though)! It's quite dark and angsty I'd say.

**Stranded**

"So you really have to go?" John was leaning against the door of Teyla's quarters.

"Yes, I do. I promised Dr Glock I would help, so I have to go." Teyla was gathering some warm clothing and put them in a backpack.

"Can't someone else do it? It's not a big mission or anything, and you won't be able to fly the jumper anyway." John walked away from the door, as he saw the look on her face. " Sorry. But it's true, isn't it? Why would he ask you to come?"

"I do not know, John. But I have made a promise that I tend to keep. It is only collecting some samples from the mainland. We will be back by sundown." She walked past him out of the room. John followed her, whilst muttering to himself something about "yeah, sure…", "tent for the night", and "too many supplies". Teyla pretended she didn't hear it, as she made her way to the jumper bay. No need to pack any military supplies, as they were only flying by jumper to the mainland they knew well by now.

"Dr Glock." John nodded to the botanist as he entered the jumper bay.

"Col. Sheppard." Glock replied. He was a tall, dark-haired, thirty-something man from earth. He was one of the few from the Atlantis team who had gone of missions at the SGC, and knew his way around planets and other races. He didn't look like a botanist, John thought. Too tall, too dark-haired, too socially skilled to like plants more than humans.

"So, what exactly are you going to do on the mainland, Glock?" He didn't even know his first name.

"We will be collecting samples from the victorius macnifus, a plant that seems to have colour-changing abilities." Glock helped Teyla by carrying her bag into the jumper. John could slap himself for not thinking of that. Although, she didn't seem to like it very much.

"Ah. Sounds fascinating." John looked after the two, as they settled into the jumper. He knew he shouldn't walk after them. That would be too obvious. "So, bring her back by evening right?" He saluted Teyla.

"Sure thing." Glock smiled at Teyla, who made herself comfortable in the passenger seat. He was one of the few who was a natural Ancient gene carrier. Sheppard began to dislike the guy more and more.

"Right." John said to no one in particular, as the ramp of the jumper closed. At least he's taking Jumper 6, he thought. He made his way back to his quarters. He had some paperwork to do.

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Teyla knew it would take them two hours to get to the mainland, but it didn't make the prospect any more fun. Glock was reasonably good in conversation. At least he didn't talk about plants the entire time. Not that she had expected that really, she hoped she wasn't that shallow, but she had thought their interests would lay too far apart. Instead, he told her about the adventures he had had on an SG team. Going off world in the Milky Way seemed just as eventful as in the Pegasus Galaxy.

After two hours and thirty minutes – Teyla wondered where those thirty minutes had gone to – they arrived at their destination. Glock manoeuvred the jumper into position on an open space, while Teyla put on her backpack, and grabbed some cases and other bags that Glock needed to store the plants in.

"I can carry something, it's okay." Teyla had to urge Glock to trust her strength. She knew he meant well, but was still slightly irritated by now. She could handle herself perfectly, and he should know that by now.

They walked out of the jumper into the woods. They knew they could leave the jumper open and in plain sight, as there were no further residents on this planet and no creepy animals could get in. This planet was quite boring in that respect. Aside from that one snake on the other side of the planet.

Glock led the way, as they walked deeper into the forest. "Just one more mile I reckon."

The forest was quite peaceful. Teyla heard birds and saw small rodents scurrying away from them up the trees. "Those are plobus. At least, we've called them that." Glock had seen her watching them.

"How do you come by those names?" Teyla was curious.

"We usually let the person discovering the animal or planet decide. I have no idea why this one is called a plobus. Reminds me of a platypus. Maybe it did him of a small one." He smiled at her again. "Here we are." They put down the backpacks and cases. "That's the beauty for why we're here." He walked over to a plant growing on the side of a tree. It was deep green, and if Glock hadn't mentioned it, she would have thought it was just part of the tree. "My colleagues say it adapts to its surroundings. See, this one is green." He walked over to a tree on the other side of the path. "Look, this one is brown." Teyla looked and looked, but couldn't spot anything out of order on the trunk. "There." Glock pointed at it with its finger. "These are the petals." Now she saw it. "Extraordinary." She truly thought so. She had seen and used many plants on Athos, but never one like this.

"We'd like to know its properties. How it's able to do so. Can you hand me that case? Yes, that one. Thank you." He opened the case and held out a pair of gloves, a glass container, and a clam of some sorts. Carefully, he plucked the plant from the tree and put it in the glass container. He used the same procedure throughout the next hour or so with other plants attached to different trees. Teyla just followed where Glock went. She enjoyed being outdoors, but was slightly bored by the task, as she had very little to do except handing him his cases.

"You must be so bored." She must have looked so distantly that he could read her mind. "I'm sorry I took you on this trip. I just wanted to get to know you better."

Teyla smiled at him. "It is quite alright. I enjoy learning about new planets, and that is what I am doing now." She could see the disappointment in his face, as she didn't mention she liked being here with him. That was because she didn't particularly. She knew Sheppard had been right when he was muttering behind her back, but she had made this promise a week before when he approached her at the counter in the mess hall, and she just couldn't refuse him. Plus, she was here for the entire time, so she knew nothing was going to happen.

An hour later, they returned to the jumper. Glock had stored all his plants in the cases, but seemed less cheerful after his comment towards Teyla. It seemed she did hurt him slightly by not returning his flirt. She could not worry too much about it. The sun was about to go down, and she was hungry for a good meal. In the meantime, it had started pouring down and thundering, so she started to feel cold too. At least the jumper would be nice and warm inside.

As Glock walked up the ramp of the jumper, a sudden lightening bolt hit the jumper. The electricity made its way onto the ramp, and Glock was struck. Teyla, just coming out of the forest, stood frozen as she saw how the botanist was shaking as he fell down on the ramp. After a brief second of shock, she ran over to him to feel his pulse. She couldn't feel it.

Teyla ran up the ramp into the jumper to get the first aid kit. Kneeling next to Glock, she performed CPR as Dr Beckett had once taught her and Ronon. "Come on, James." She muttered to him. Still no pulse.

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"Col. Sheppard. You are needed in the control room."

John was up from his bed in one motion, and ran towards the control room.

"What's up?" As he said that, he knew the answer wouldn't be good. Dr Weir was looking at him sternly. "An accident on the mainland."

It was as if his knees were kicked from under him. He could hardly keep himself upright, and held on to a control panel.

"Dr Glock is dead. Teyla is alright, but shaken up." He knew he wasn't supposed to, but he felt relieved. She was all right.

"On my way, Ma'am." John had already begun his run to the jumper bay, but Weir halted him.

"John! You can't go." She looked strictly at him.

"Why not?" He really didn't understand. Teyla didn't have the gene, and wasn't able to fly it back. Plus, she needed a friend now. She must have performed first aid, but apparently couldn't help him. He couldn't let her sit there alone with the body.

"Teyla says it is too dangerous." Weir now looked worried, and Sheppard didn't know what he heard.

"But we have to get her… them out of there. It will take me an hour and a half to get there on maximum speed anyway. The storm will have passed by then." He moved towards the stairs again, half expecting a voice ordering him to stop. He did hear Weir say something behind him, but he felt as in a rush. He moved up his pace and was at the jumper bay in no time.

He opened the ramp to Jumper 1 and sat in the pilot seat. As fast as he could he launched the jumper, opened the bay doors, and flew away from the city towards the mainland. He flew as fast as he could. Come to think of it, maybe he should have brought a doctor or another team member to assist. This really wasn't the way to go about this, he thought. But he wasn't turning back. Weir had seen him take off by himself, she'd order a jumper after him if she felt the need.

Not long after that thought, he head her voice. "Sheppard, I've just ordered another jumper to go after you. You get Teyla back; the other jumper will retrieve Dr Glock's body. Understood?"

"Understood." He felt relief. In hindsight, he had acted too quickly. He should have thought his actions through first. This was not like him, to rush into things. He usually had to be quick, but at least he made the decisions based on facts, not on emotions. He sighed deeply, and tried the radio.

"Teyla, are you there?" No response. He must still be too far off. Or she was hurt. "Teyla, please respond."

After a few seconds, she responded. "Is that you John?" She spoke with a soft voice.

"Yes, it's me. Are you alright?" He was worried.

"I'm alright. Dr Glock…" She didn't finish.

"I know. Dr Weir told me. There is another jumper behind me, coming for him. How is the weather?" He wanted to distract her.

"It is settling down it seems." Her voice was now shaking.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?" He was thinking of a way to keep her distracted and with him throughout the journey, but he knew he couldn't start playing I Spy with her.

It felt as if the journey took five hours instead of the one. He went at full speed and pushed the jumper to its limits, even feeling a little turbulence toward the end. But he had made it. On his detector he could see where the other jumper had landed. It was an open space, and Jumper 1 could land next to it easily. He reckoned it would take at least another hour for the other jumper to arrive. He didn't want to stay there that long, but knew they couldn't leave the body behind.

He ran out of the jumper after he landed it, and opened the back ramp of Jumper 6. Dr Glock's body lay in the back compartment, and he saw Teyla staring out of the front window. He should have known she wouldn't have been able to close the compartment doors.

"Teyla?" He walked past Glock's body and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned around in her seat, and he saw tears in her eyes. She looked like crap. They had gone through a lot together, but seeing a man get struck by lightning in front of you had to be horrific.

"I'm so sorry it took this long. I came as fast as I could." He kneeled in front of her, as she gave him a faint smile. "That's okay. I know it would take a while." Her head turned towards Glock, but halfway through she turned it back and looked down.

John felt a jolt of emotion coming over him. He did not want her to feel this way. Before he knew it, he had wrapped her in his arms. He felt her starting to shake. He didn't want to let go. He wanted to remain sitting there like this until she felt all safe and well again. Then he felt his arm getting wet. She was crying. That was it. He didn't want her to cry, not on his watch! He took her by the shoulders and looked into her watery eyes.

"It was.. awful, John." She tried to tell him how she felt. She really wanted to, but couldn't find the right words. What she had seen had been horrible, and the fact that she couldn't save him made it so much worse. She was so glad it was John who had come for her.

"I know. It's okay." He wanted to give her another hug, but before he knew it, he had kissed her watery cheek. He still felt her shaking slightly under his arms, but also felt her reaching out to him more after that. She tightened her grip of her arms on his back and laid her head on his shoulder.

They sat like that for a few minutes, until the radio came to life.

"Colonel Sheppard, this Lorne. We'll be there in thirty minutes."

"Understood, Major." John looked at Teyla. They smiled at each other slightly, before Teyla dove into his arms again for comfort. She would get through this. Together with him.


End file.
